The Kitchen Porters Club was set up by online publisher H&C News and Meiko to highlight the importance and value that kitchen porters bring to the kitchen. The KP Hero Award is a chance for employers to acknowledge an individual KP for the work they do within their business.

Denis Sheehan, Publisher of H&C News, “This is our inaugural KP Hero Award and it is entirely fitting that it could not have gone to a nicer and more worthy person.

“Ricardo Viera was nominated by Andrew Merrett of CH&CO for the work he does at their staff restaurant at Gatwick Airport, North Terminal. We had a great response to our tweet asking for nominations for KP Heroes and Ricardo received the most engagement so receives the Champagne on this occasion.”

Andrew Merrett of CH&CO added: “KP’s are sometimes the unsung heroes in our business, but without them our kitchens couldn’t run. A big thank you to all our kitchen porters. Ricardo always goes above and beyond, pitches in and puts a smile on people's faces.”

Run by CH&CO, the staff restaurant at Gatwick is a busy place, catering for crew, security staff, office staff and many more, with 500-600 covers in their North Terminal restaurant alone.

Martin Ferris, Deputy General Manager, CH&CO, “The nature of the staff shifts at Gatwick means that we have a fast turnaround of customers, looking for breakfasts and meals or to pop in for just a coffee. We are open from 6am to 9pm serving everything from roasts to salads, pasta to curries, that’s a full and varied menu, resulting in a lot of work and lots of washing up!

“Ricardo really deserves this recognition. He has worked with us for the last five years, arriving at 5am and always going above and beyond his role – with a smile on his face! He also helps me getting our food to our airside restaurant, which isn’t easy. He is a pleasure to work with and such an important member of the team. A good kitchen porter is something we couldn’t do without and Ricardo is one of the best.”

On receiving his bottle of Champagne and a bag of Meiko goodies, Ricardo said, “I work hard, keep happy and I try to be a good person. I am part of a great team here at Gatwick, Martin and the chefs are good to work with and I hope to have a long future here. Thank you so much for this award.”

Mark Roberts, Marketing Manager for Meiko UK added: “Meiko have always seen the KP as such an important part of the kitchen and it has been wonderful to present this Award to Ricardo and to see how much his team appreciate him.

“The latest developments on Meiko’s dishwashers have very much put the KP first, with the most advanced ergonomics to prevent back and shoulder pressure and colour coded components for faster cleaning and maintenance, all so the KP can spend less time at the dishwasher and more time helping with other tasks.

“We hope that the work H&C News is doing with the Meiko Kitchen Porters Club will continue to raise the profile of Kitchen Porters and acknowledge the crucial work people like Ricardo do.”